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The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London.
The Company ranks in sixth or seventh place (making it one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies) in the order of precedence of the Livery Companies, alternating with the Skinners' Company. The annual switch occurs at Easter. The Merchant Taylors are normally sixth in the order of precedence in odd numbered years, and at seven in even numbered years.
The Company was at first an association of tailors. By the end of the 17th century, its connection with the tailoring trade had virtually ceased and it became what it is today, a philanthropic and social association - albeit that it has recently rekindled its links with Savile Row and is the principal sponsor and organiser of the prestigious biannual "Golden Shears" competition for aspiring young tailors.
History
The Company started as an association of artisans, ie working tailors, known as the Fraternity of St John the Baptist. This was both for trade regulation and also for a good funeral and for prayers for one’s soul in Purgatory after death. All these aspects were equally important before the Reformation. The Company’s first royal charter was in 1327, and the Company was incorporated by a further royal charter in 1408. The Company also possessed a chapel in St Paul’s Cathedral and, from 1413, almshouses in Threadneedle Street for its aged members.
At this time the Company was known as the Company of Tailors and Linen-Armourers, linen armour being the padded clothes worn beneath metal armour.
From humble beginnings, the Company very gradually improved its status. It acquired considerable wealth through gifts and benefactions. Many important people were admitted to the Fraternity, such as Henry V, the victor of Agincourt. Although many members remained working tailors, by the late 15th century the senior membership contained an increasing number of wealthy merchants, trading within England and also overseas. The first Mayor to be chosen from the Company was Sir John Percyvale, Master of the Company in 1489 and Mayor in 1508. There have been many others since.
The Company became the Company of Merchant Taylors by a royal charter of 1503. This reflected its new status and commercial role in the business of the City of London. A few years later it also became one of the “Great Twelve” livery companies, the senior companies in the City from which all Lord Mayors had to be chosen.
Like all livery companies, the Merchant Taylors is now a social and charitable organisation. The last working tailors in the Company are believed to have been at the end of the 17th century, though links with the trade have recently been revived.
Further reading: Searching for members or those apprenticed to members of City of London livery companies
➜ Please add apprentices, freemen, wardens, and masters of the Merchant Taylors' Company to this project.
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Links and Sources
- The Merchant Taylors' Membership Index 1530 - 1928
- merchant-taylors.co.uk
- wikipedia.org
- The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist, London: The lives. Charles Mathew Clode Harrison, 1888